A full week of great blessings! . . . and photos from the temple mount

Life has been full this past week. I love full weeks!!

1. First off, last Sunday we attended the baby blessing of our first grandson! His father gave such a beautiful blessing. I was so proud of him. And it was so much fun to attend their ward and have a delicious lunch at Kali's parent's home afterward. I took pictures, but unfortunately I left my camera at their house and won't get it back until later today.

Which is why I don't have any pictures of our good times this past week. BUT . . . pictorially documented or not, we still had a great week.

2. My oldest daughter, Camille, celebrated her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMILLE! I am going to be seeing her next week and am so excited for that. And (shhhh) but I bought her the cookbook by the ladies from "Our Best Bites" as a gift. I know she will be happy to have that. I am loving mine!

3. Last Saturday, our daughter Kristen and her friend Jayna arrived to spend five glorious days with us!! They both are elementary school teachers (interns) and were on spring break so they came to thaw out from the Utah cold. They hiked, biked, went to the movies, got facials, (thank you Kali!!) and shopped for graduation dresses (as they will graduate from BYU next Friday.) It was so much fun to have them here. Although I learned that with Wes, Michelle, the sister missionaries and our two guests all here, you do NOT want to be the last person to shower in the morning!

4. I found black rice!! I read a couple months ago that in addition to quinoa, black rice is the new super food. So I set out on a mission to find some. Target? No! Walmart? No! Sprouts? No! (But I found some very yummy dark brown rice). But then yesterday I went to a Chinese market looking for cellophane noodles for a luau I am doing later this month and discovered black rice!! I was so excited to eat it and made some for dinner last night. I will admit it just doesn't seem right to be eating black anything (unless it is licorice) but I really did like the flavor and the texture--which is nutty similar to brown.

5. I got back on my exercise schedule, but am having a hard time getting back to healthy eating. I have some treats tucked away in the pantry and was being really good about not eating them until everyone else started to eat them and then I just had to have some as well. But I tell ya, it is a bit embarrassing to be at the gym, pull out your pass to be scanned and have candy wrappers fall out of your pocket!

6. I have also been looking at my pictures from Israel and wanted to share a few more. Here are some from the Temple Mount. This is the same mountain where Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice, and where the temple of Solomon once stood. It is currently under Muslim rule and home to the Dome of the Rock--and is a beautiful place to visit. I really enjoyed the details of the buildings there and watching the people who came to worship.

The last picture of the young girl is my favorite. I love the look on her face. I also got a kick out of the little boy climbing over the wall. Boys will be boys where ever they live, apparently. :-) And notice the girls with the backpacks. One of them says Nike. I got a chuckle out of that.